Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

George Howarth Excerpts

Tuesday 14th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab)]

I should start by saying a few words about the three maiden speeches that I have recently heard. All were passionate, witty or lyrical, and one was all three. We will look forward to hearing more from those hon. Members in the future.

I want to concentrate my remarks on young people, especially those in Knowsley. Three years ago I carried out a project over the summer in my constituency. I think we called it, “What young people in Knowsley think”. It is not a very original title, but it summed up what we were trying to do. Without going through the whole process and perhaps spending too much time on an analysis of what we did, I just want to talk about two conclusions that I drew from the questions that we asked some 80 young people.

The first conclusion was that young people in Knowsley are no less ambitious than young people anywhere else in the United Kingdom. Like other people, they want to have their own business, to join one of the professions or to be in the entertainment business. Some of them were remarkably specific about what they wanted to do: one young man wanted to be a diesel fitter in Canada. I never did get to the bottom of that story. In any case, they were all very ambitious.

The second conclusion, however, came from asking the young people what barriers they saw to achieving what they wanted to achieve in their lives. Most of them were between 14 and 18, and it was staggering that at that young age they recognised that in an area such as Knowsley—one of the poorest in the country—the barriers to achieving what they wanted in life were enormous. Some of the barriers were to do with educational qualifications—they thought that they would not get the requisite number of GSCEs to go on to do A-levels or to higher education, and that there was a lack of availability of training in the things they wanted to do.

Others feared that they did not have the right connections to get into professions they wanted to follow. In other words, mum and dad could not buy them an internship in a firm of national accountants so that they could get a head start to put on their CV. I say that not with any sense of bitterness, but at the tender age of 14 to 18 young people in Knowsley already know the limits of their potential owing to the poverty of their background. I am not saying that some will not get out of that—some will—but at that point in their lives they realise that there are enormous barriers to their achieving what they want to do.

What will the Budget do for children and families with children, particularly for those in receipt of tax credits? There are 9,900 such families in Knowsley, compared with the average in English constituencies of about 3,342—we have more or less three times the number. The number of families affected by the changes to tax credits will be nearly 10,000, which is an enormous number. That will have an impact on the children in those families. The percentage of children in families receiving tax credits in Knowsley is 71%, compared with 55% for England as a whole. On top of that—I am grateful to the Children’s Society for these statistics—the Government have allocated just £6.8 million in early intervention funding to Knowsley Council for the current year. That is £10 million less on early intervention than in 2010, yet we know that to overcome the sort of barriers I referred to earlier early intervention support is crucial. Children need that head start at an early age, but fewer resources will be available.

We also know from the Children’s Society that nationally there are 3 million children living in poverty. Some 5,290 of them are in Knowsley alone, of whom 3,840 are living in families who are the working poor. In other words, the families are in employment but they are still classified as being in poverty. I know the Government might like to redefine poverty in such a way that a lot of these statistics fall out of the definition, but there is real poverty in many of those families. We know that from some of the things that have already been mentioned.

For example, two weeks ago I spent Saturday morning collecting food for the Big Help Project food bank in Knowsley. As always when I do that, I am struck by the incredible generosity of people. They were going around Tesco, as it happened, buying their own food and then setting aside one or two bags full of food to donate to the food bank. Other hon. Members have referred to food banks. I am a huge supporter of the Big Help Project and I recognise the necessity of food banks because of the situation some families are in—many of them, by the way, are in employment, not on benefits. I never thought—a number of customers in Tesco made the same point to me—that I would live through a time when we saw families dependent on food banks to feed their children.

[Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) (SNP)]

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that in many communities across the United Kingdom the food bank is the only growth industry?

[Mr Howarth]

The hon. Gentleman is probably right. In some areas, a food bank has an enormous impact. It is something I honestly never thought I would live to see.

[Mr Anderson]

rose—

[Mr Howarth]

I will give way to my hon. Friend and then I will press on, because I know, Mr Deputy Speaker, that you do not approve of interventions in added-on time.

[Mr Anderson]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that Conservative Members would probably say that going to a food bank is a lifestyle choice?

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

I do not mind interventions, but I want to ensure that speeches come in below 10 minutes.

[Mr Howarth]

I shall try my best, Mr Deputy Speaker.

My hon. Friend is right; of course it is not a lifestyle choice. Who would choose a system where they have to get a voucher, turn up somewhere and give it to someone they have never met before in return for food to take home to their family? It is not a lifestyle choice. Of the 7,000-odd people—a staggering number—who have used the food bank in Knowsley, 700 are in employment. It is definitely not a lifestyle choice for them, and I do not think it is for the others either.

In conclusion, I have set out the reality for many children in Knowsley, and Knowsley is not unique—I am not making that argument—but even at the end of it all, what sort of employment opportunities are available? For many, there are zero-hours contracts under which the person does not know when they are expected to turn up for work, or even how many hours they are going to work, and in some cases—I have spoken to people for whom this is the case—the person gets a call at 11 o’clock at night telling them to go 10 miles away to do a two-hour shift in a packaging factory, the first hour’s earnings from which go on a taxi because public transport does not start until after 6 o’clock. Is that the sort of work these children should inherit? I think not. And these are often major international firms. For those not lucky enough to go into higher education, the other option is a rolling contract. That sounds great, doesn’t it? Why would anyone not want to be on a rolling contract? Actually, it means that every now and then the person gets sacked, so they do not have any continuity of employment rights. Sadly, that is the future for many young people, and this Budget does nothing to take away the fear of that future.

European Union Referendum Bill

George Howarth Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Peter Grant]

My hon. Friend makes a good and valid point. Conservatives expressing concerns about possible unfairness in the conduct of this referendum are referring to exactly the kind of unfairness that they and their colleagues were happy to exploit in the Scottish referendum.

[The Temporary Chair (Mr George Howarth)]

Order. The hon. Gentleman is making a debating point, which is acceptable to an extent. However, he should stick to this referendum rather than previous ones.

[Peter Grant]

I stand corrected, Mr Howarth; I apologise.

I turn to amendment 32. I understand the intention behind it, as charities should be doing charitable work rather than being engaged full time in political campaigning. However, let me give one example of its possible unintended and undesirable consequences.

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[Alex Salmond]

On a point of order, Mr Howarth. In a Committee of the whole House, is it a reasonable explanation for not giving way for the hon. Gentleman to say that he has a reception to go to?

[The Temporary Chair (Mr George Howarth)]

As the right hon. Gentleman well knows, that is not a point of order. The hon. Gentleman can give way or not. That is a matter of choice for the hon. Gentleman.

[Sir Gerald Howarth]

It is quite clear that the right hon. Member for Gordon (Alex Salmond) is only distressed because he has not been invited. If he speaks to me very nicely, I might arrange for a wee ticket to be sent to him.

This is a very important subject. I want to put on the record my appreciation for the Prime Minister’s having kept his word to the British people that there would be a referendum on Britain’s future in the European Union. That he has brought forward the Bill so early in the Parliament is highly commendable and indicative of his determination. It is indicative of the current spirit of the Conservative party that this moment is completely unlike 1992, in that we are airing our differences of view and our different concerns in this Committee debate in an amicable spirit, as we try to find the best way through.

There is unanimity in this Chamber that if the referendum is to be successful, it must be fair. Not only do we have to arrange provisions to ensure that it is fair, to the best of our ability; it must be seen by the British people to be fair. There would be nothing worse than to carry out this extensive operation and hold the referendum and, in the end, for people on whichever side of the argument not to be satisfied that the conditions that we in this House laid down for the conduct of the referendum had been fulfilled.

It is right and proper for us to be as precise in framing the rules for the referendum as possible. It is in that spirit that I support amendment 53, which was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh), who is no longer in his place, and amendment 10, which was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Sir William Cash) and to which I am a signatory.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stone says that the Electoral Commission does not believe that it is necessary to include amendment 10, which would limit the capacity of the European Commission to have any involvement whatsoever in the referendum. The Electoral Commission has made a number of important and valid suggestions, but I need to be persuaded on that point. We all know from our constituencies that when a project has been funded in any way by the European Union, those socking great stars are plastered all over it as though it has been funded by the EU. Of course, all of us in this Committee know that it has not been funded by the EU at all, but by the British taxpayer with money that we have given to the European Commission, some of which it kindly gives back to us.

We need to be very clear that we do not want the European Commission, in any shape or form, sticking its oar into our domestic debate about whether we should continue to be a member of the European Union or seek our fortune elsewhere.

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[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[The Temporary Chair (Mr George Howarth)]

Order. I have been quite relaxed about Members making interventions but I have noticed that they are getting longer, to the point of being beside the point. Before I call the next speaker, I must point out that I shall now be taking a slightly less relaxed view on interventions.

[John Redwood]

I hope that, when the Government bring the Bill back on Report, they will give further consideration to the question of campaign spending limits. We are all freshly back from an energetic general election campaign, and one of the finest things about the United Kingdom’s traditions that ensure fair and free elections is the fact that we have pretty strict expenditure limits in each constituency. Those of us who were the incumbents fighting to retain our seats were rightly subject to rules stating that we could not use our incumbency in any way, as that would have provided us with an obvious advantage. We could not use our ability to raise more money, for example, because there were strict limits in place.

Those strict limits applied for a five-month period. We had the long campaign period, which was subject to expenditure control, followed by the short campaign period. It is the short campaign period for the referendum that we are talking about today. I believe that it was right to impose the campaign limits early, because political parties are increasingly campaigning well in advance of the general election proper, and it looks as though the referendum campaign will kick in well before the referendum proper. Indeed, there are clearly already stirrings, even before this Bill has passed through the House of Commons.

It is good that we all have to face the challenge from a number of candidates, any one of whom has a reasonable chance of raising the maximum that we are allowed to spend in a given constituency. It is quite a large sum for an individual to raise, but it is quite a modest sum for someone who has a reasonable amount of support or who asks for small or medium-sized donations from a range of people. It is not that difficult for a relatively popular party or candidate to raise the money needed in order to spend right up to the constituency limit, to give them the maximum chance in the challenge.

I understand that the sums will be rather bigger in a national referendum campaign, and that if one side is a lot more popular than the other, that would give it an advantage not only in the vote but in the amount of fundraising it could do. But I do think that, under the current Bill, the very large sums that would be available, because of the way the parties and some of the supporting organisations are thinking, are thoroughly disproportionate. That would give the impression of unfairness, and the British people have a great sense of fairness. Many people on the yes side have a sense of fairness and would prefer it if the referendum campaign were conducted with more equal sums of money, so that the weight and quality of the argument matter more than access to funds and special ways of messaging.

Amendment of the Law

George Howarth Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

We did not promise to abolish the VAT bombshell. We did make the promise on tuition fees and that was a mistake. We have regretted it and apologised for it.

I just wish that the Labour party would have the same wisdom, because if it ever gets into office, it will go down this road and it will do severe damage to the budget and to universities. The worst thing about this policy is that the primary beneficiaries will be the investment bankers of the future. The shadow Chancellor has been going around complaining about millionaires’ tax cuts. What he is now advocating is a millionaires’ debt-relief scheme.

[Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab)]

To use the right hon. Gentleman’s own words, would he describe the promise to abolish tuition fees at the last election as transcendentally stupid?

[Vince Cable]

The promise was not to abolish tuition fees, but to not increase them. We did increase them and that was a matter of regret.

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[Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab)]

The hon. Member for North Dorset (Mr Walter) said that he was still waiting to hear what Labour’s proposals were, but if he had taken the trouble to attend the opening of the debate, he would have heard from my right hon. Friend the shadow Chancellor precisely what we intend to do.

The shadow Chancellor’s opening speech contained many quotes from Shakespeare. It is a little known fact that there is a strong connection between Shakespeare and Knowsley. The sixth Earl of Derby was a patron of William Shakespeare, and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was written for his wedding and performed before Elizabeth I in Knowsley hall, so I thought a quote from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” might be appropriate. Earlier today the Chief Secretary to the Treasury sought to put some distance between the Liberal Democrats and their coalition partners, and I think the quote might sum that up:

“So we grew together,

Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,

But yet an union in partition,

Two lovely berries molded on one stem”.

That perfectly sums up how the Liberal Democrats cannot realistically distance themselves from everything that has gone on over the last five years.

My hon. Friend the Member for Halton (Derek Twigg) made a very good speech, including a passionate plea on local government finance and how that has affected his constituents during this Government’s time in office. He made some important points that bear repetition.

[Derek Twigg]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his reference to my speech and the issue of local government finance. Does he agree that the scale and viciousness of the cuts to the most deprived authorities in England beggars belief? Merseyside has suffered particularly badly.

[Mr Howarth]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Knowsley has had the worst cuts in Government grant this year, and over the period of this Government the amount of Government grant per household in Knowsley will have been reduced by £1,500, yet it is one of the poorest, most deprived local authorities in the area.

The main point I want to make is to do with economic growth and the structural problems in our economy. The key point is that we have an unbalanced economy; economic growth is overly dependent on asset inflation and consumer demand. As a consequence, over recent decades the balance has shifted away from manufacturing and towards the service and retail sectors. This is well illustrated by the decline in manufacturing as a proportion of gross domestic product. In 1970, manufacturing accounted for about 30% of GDP, but in the intervening period it has declined to some 10%. For an area such as Knowsley, which has a strong manufacturing base, that is bad news.

There is of course a complex set of reasons for that, but two factors are specifically relevant, the first of which is housing policy and our national obsession with owner-occupation, which distorts any attempt to have a rational housing policy. In the north-west, between 1997 and 2013, average house prices increased from £51,000 to £109,000, yet in the same period wages increased from £309 a week to just £460 a week. In the same period, local authority waiting lists have grown by more than 90%. So, despite the various incentives for owner-occupiers, saving for a deposit and securing a mortgage is becoming an increasingly impossible goal.

I welcome the Chancellor’s introduction in the Budget statement of a new Help to Buy ISA, which will help people to save towards a deposit. Superficially, that is an attractive way to help them get a foot on the property ladder, but the real problem is that it will not help those on lower incomes. A first-time buyer currently needs an income of about £36,000 a year, which is way beyond what many of my constituents earn, so even with that scheme, they will not be able to get on the property ladder.

I am pleased that my party is committed to working towards a goal of building 200,000 homes a year over the next five years. Welcome though that is, it still will not make up the shortfall. Although the sale of council houses—the hon. Member for Angus (Mr Weir) referred to this; I may have misunderstood him—is a good thing from the point of view of the individual buyer, is it good public policy? The National Housing Federation has called for a review of that policy, which I support. We need to know how that policy will contribute to the building of more properties, which needs to happen if we are to bring prices down.

[Mr Weir]

For the avoidance of doubt, I was making the point that the right to buy caused the sale of many council houses and new ones were not being built to replace them. The removal of the right to buy in Scotland has meant that we are now building new houses for the first time in many years.

[Mr Howarth]

The hon. Gentleman is quite right, but my point is that, even if we are substituting those houses with new ones, we are still not building enough additional properties, net, to solve the problem.

The Chancellor sees himself as the champion of devolution and the northern powerhouse, and that is a fair claim for him to make. I am very much in favour of greater devolution and the development of city regions, and there are many problems in our city region that need to be addressed. Time forbids me to go into them all, but, for example, we need to get 42,000 more people into employment and an increase in income of about £1,700 per head if we are to close the gap between us and the UK average. The Chancellor said that in his view there is no one-size-fits-all solution to leadership for city regions, yet the evidence of Manchester suggests that there is a favoured option—an elected mayor.

The key to unlocking more resources and powers appears to involve agreeing to have an elected mayor. Regardless of my views on elected mayors, there is no consensus on this on Merseyside. I do not think it should be for the Government to insist on people having one thing before they can get another. There should be a referendum so that the people can have their say on the matter. I hope that progress on devolution to city regions will not be sacrificed purely on the basis that there is no consensus on an elected mayor for the Liverpool city region.

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[Andrea Leadsom]

I agree absolutely with my hon. Friend and assure him that that is precisely the point that the Secretary of State and I have been taking up with the banks.

The right hon. Member for Knowsley (Mr Howarth) might recall that I had the privilege of standing as a candidate in 2005 for Knowsley South against Eddie O’Hara. I am delighted that he welcomed the Help to Buy ISA and urge him to promote it to his local first-time buyers. It will be flexible for those on low incomes and will give a Government contribution of up to £3,000 towards a deposit for a new home.

[Mr George Howarth]

The Minister has quoted me out of context. I was making the point that we keep trying to subsidise owner-occupation by one means or another, none of which contributes to building new houses.

[Andrea Leadsom]

I apologise if I misunderstood the right hon. Gentleman’s comment. Nevertheless, Help to Buy will provide support for young people in his constituency looking to get on the housing ladder.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke) gave an interesting insight into her experience as an economics teacher, particularly in respect of the terrible time of our exit from the ERM. I was working in a dealing room then, and like her I have always thought that financial stability is key to our security, our jobs and our future. As she knows, I agree totally with her about the vital importance of interventions to support the mental health of children, mums and babies in the perinatal period, and I thoroughly congratulate her on her work in that area.

On the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame M. Morris), the best I can say is that I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris). Although I disagree with what the hon. Gentleman said, he is too courteous for me to pick a fight with him about it. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry on two other points—first, that Northampton Saints are an excellent rugby team, and secondly, that it is people and businesses across the UK that, through their hard work and aspiration, deserve the credit for our economic recovery.

Finally, the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth (Debbie Abrahams) talked about the biggest increase in self-employment in 40 years, and then somehow suggested it was a bad thing. I hope her aspiring new business owners were listening. In truth, under this Government, the richest 20% of households are contributing in cash terms over four times more than the poorest 20%.

Equitable Life

George Howarth Excerpts

Thursday 26th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab)]

I will be brief. I congratulate the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) and my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds North East (Fabian Hamilton) on giving us the opportunity to debate this issue and on the motion, which sums up the situation very well.

I want to make two points. First, I am sure others have received a similarly, or possibly identically, worded letter to that which I have received from one of my constituents, which states:

“Victims of the Equitable scandal are…incensed that savers with Northern Rock, Bradford & Bingley, Icesave, RBS, HBOS and others have been bailed out 100% while they have been left with…compensation of less than 25% of their losses.”

When I first read that statement, I was not entirely sure that it was comparing like with like, but the more I thought about it, the more obvious it became that, ultimately, the comparison is completely valid, because there was a failure to regulate all those organisations and Equitable Life properly. The right hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Nick Herbert) has said—this was the first thought that occurred to me—that there were macroeconomic reasons for having to bail out those organisations at the time. Even so, the comparison of the two problems that both resulted from the failure of regulation is valid.

Secondly, it has been said repeatedly that the ombudsman pointed out unequivocally that there had been maladministration. We need to think carefully about that and the implications for the whole ombudsman system if we do not accept its consequences as well as its judgment. An ombudsman system that finds maladministration and then says how it can be dealt with cannot be properly respected by the Government or anybody else unless the consequences of its findings—in this case, the costs involved—are addressed in full. It is important, for all the reasons that have already been given, that the people affected are properly compensated, but it is also important, if we are going to have a proper ombudsman system, to accept not only its findings with regard to maladministration, but the consequences of those findings.

I am perfectly content with the motion, which concludes by calling on the Government

“to make a commitment to provide full compensation during the lifetime of the next Parliament as the economy and public finances continue to recover.”

My hon. Friend the Member for Coventry North West (Mr Robinson), the hon. Member for Harrow East and others have put together, almost during the course of this debate, a package that might work. It involves using more effectively the money that is already available now and then having a programme of meeting the full costs over the course of the next Parliament. I think that that strategy provides a solution and I hope the Minister will accept that when she responds to the debate.

Holiday Pricing

George Howarth Excerpts

Monday 24th February 2014 Westminster Hall

[Natascha Engel]

That is an excellent point. I know the hon. Lady has a background in education, and she is absolutely right. All I am asking for is that we allow greater discretion. At the moment, there is not enough discretion, and that is why the issues are being raised with us as constituency MPs.

[Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab)]

I think I agree with my hon. Friend, but does she agree with me that the problem is that there are at least three variables? There are those—including teachers—who, by virtue of their employment, would never have the opportunities that others are seeking. There are those—she gave some good examples—whose own employment makes it difficult for them to find space. And of no less importance is the requirement for schools to provide the entire curriculum to all the children, and co-ordinating that would be a problem. The idea of more discretion is good, but it needs to be underpinned by some basic principles about how all the different groups can be catered for.

[Mr Andrew Turner (in the Chair)]

Order. Before you continue, can I ask that you face my direction in future?

[Mr Howarth]

Sorry.

[Natascha Engel]

I absolutely agree. Our problem at the moment is that we have one national policy that is supposed to apply to everybody, and it is not working in the case of teachers, police officers, and the armed forces. There are lots of individual professions that will have problems. However, the head teachers that I have met know the parents and their children. We do not want a situation in which it becomes too easy to take children out of school—there would be abuses of that—but in the case of families with the lowest incomes and the greatest pressures on family life, where a lot of the families are breaking up, that is far worse for a child than simply missing a couple of days of its education because it has gone on holiday. We need to look at that a lot more carefully. I agree with the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole that we need to look at the guidelines more carefully. We must not impose so harshly on schools and use such a threatening tone with parents. For people on a low income, the inability to ever go on holiday would be a great shame.

Tourism (VAT)

George Howarth Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2014 Westminster Hall

[Ms Ritchie]

I thank the hon. and learned Gentleman for his helpful intervention. My colleagues from Northern Ireland and I offer our sympathy, support and empathy to the people of the south-west. My aunt used to work in the hospitality industry in Plymouth many years ago, so I know it quite well. I suggest to the Minister that a cut in VAT would help those who are struggling economically, financially and emotionally at this difficult time.

[Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing the debate and on the forceful way in which she is putting her case. Does she agree that attractive tourist destinations such as Northern Ireland and Merseyside are being hampered competitively by the arrangements elsewhere in Europe that she has described?

Age-related Tax Allowances

George Howarth Excerpts

Monday 9th September 2013 Westminster Hall

[Mr Gauke]

In a moment I will turn to what we are doing with the basic state pension and the steps we have taken to ensure that it is rising more quickly than it otherwise would have.

My hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal touched on simplification. We want to make the tax system simpler and easier for people to understand, and the changes to age-related allowances are an important part of that. It is worth pointing out that we are not the only people to conclude that such allowances add unnecessary complications to the tax system. A 2009 report by the Public Accounts Committee commented:

“The age-related allowance rules are complex and hard for older people to understand and place too much emphasis on older people having to prove their eligibility, resulting in errors in claims and potential overpayments of tax.”

And, in March last year, the Office of Tax Simplification published its interim report on pensioner taxation, highlighting no fewer than nine complexities.

The taper feature is one of the main sources of complication in age-related allowances. It is worth setting out how it works, to demonstrate the degree of complexity in age-related allowances. The taper removes an individual’s age-related allowance where their income exceeds the aged income limit,—£26,100 in 2013-14—at a rate of £1 for every £2 over the limit. The age-related allowance is reduced up to the point at which the income tax allowance is exactly the same as the normal personal allowance. That taper creates a 30% effective rate of tax for individuals on modest incomes and, most importantly, brings hundreds of thousands of people into the self-assessment system when, in many cases, they would otherwise have no need to complete a tax return.

Our changes to age-related allowances will remove such complexity and confusion for older taxpayers. The simplification is not only of benefit to taxpayers; a simpler tax system is also easier for the Government to administer, enabling HMRC to focus on reducing the tax gap, which I know the hon. Member for Luton North cares about passionately.

[Mr George Howarth (Knowles) (Lab)]

I apologise, Mr Hollobone, for not being here at the commencement of the debate; I had inescapable commitments elsewhere in the House. May I press the Minister to respond to a point? The arguments he puts would be better received by those affected if they did not compare the changes to their tax allowances with the fact that those at the higher end of the income scale have received benefits that amount to about £100,000, as my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell) pointed out. That comparison is what makes the situation so objectionable.

Economic Growth

George Howarth Excerpts

Wednesday 15th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab)]

Can the Chancellor name a single occasion before the banking problems in 2008 when he and his party argued for tighter regulation of the City?

[Mr Osborne]

My party voted against the tripartite arrangement. I do not have the quote with me today—I will send it to the right hon. Gentleman or ensure that my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary has it for the wind-up—but the shadow Chancellor at the time, my right hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Mr Lilley), warned in this House that taking prudential regulation away from the Bank of England was a massive mistake and that the Bank of England would not be able to spot the growth of debt bubbles in the economy. Tragically, that is precisely what happened a decade later, and in part the responsibility lies with the people who set up the regulatory system. Is it not extraordinary that Labour Members get up and say that the Conservatives said this or that, yet we are looking at the City Minister at the time? We are looking at the person who, before that, was the chief economic adviser who devised the system and who used to take pleasure in telling everyone that he turned up in government and gave Eddie George a letter saying that he was no longer in charge of banking regulation—that used to be the shadow Chancellor’s story, but he never talks about it now.

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[Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab)]

I will first say a few words about employment, particularly in the light of statistics released today, and then a few words about Europe. The employment situation in the UK and in my constituency is frankly depressing, and the figures released today by the Office for National Statistics emphasise that. Nationally, 3.8% of those aged 16 to 64 are on jobseeker’s allowance. Today in Knowsley the number of JSA claimants is 4,245, which equates to 6.3% of Knowsley residents, well above the national rate. Similarly, the JSA count for those aged 18 to 24 is 7.2%, whereas in Knowsley it is 13.2%. In my view, therefore, there is no room for complacency.

To be frank, many of the existing opportunities do not reflect the expectations of an ambitious country. Practices such as zero-hour contracts and the use by many high-profile companies of unpaid internships and agency work amount in many cases to systematic exploitation, particularly of young people.

There is growing concern about what is often referred to as the race to the bottom. In The Times a few days ago, the noble Lord Sainsbury of Turville was reported as arguing for a more progressive form of capitalism that recognises social justice and discussing the role that institutions could play in bringing it about. He also rejected the neo-liberal consensus of the past several decades.

Frances O’Grady, the recently appointed general secretary of the TUC, has mentioned the Prime Minister’s ambitions to erode workers’ rights. She said:

“'The Prime Minister wants to ‘repatriate’ those rights, and not because he thinks he can improve them”,

but because he

“wants to make it easier for bad employers to undercut good ones”.

Moreover, on the question of employment rights, Jon Cridland, the director general of the CBI, has said that the Prime Minister’s proposals would not be his starting point in any negotiation. It is clear that there is an emerging consensus that we should be discussing the quality of employment and the opportunities for people, rather than taking away the rights and privileges they already enjoy.

I am a Eurosceptic compared with many on the Labour Benches. I voted against the Maastricht treaty, because it removed the social contract. I am in favour of renegotiating the terms of our EU membership and think there should be a referendum at some point. It is not healthy for our democracy that the relationship between the political classes and the country has eroded to the extent that it has.

Where I part company with the Prime Minister, however, is on the sort of Europe that he wants to renegotiate, which is entirely different from the sort of Europe that I want to be a part of. I believe firmly that there is a case for renegotiation and that it should be followed by a referendum, but I certainly do not agree with the sort of Europe that the Prime Minister wants to bring about.

[Mr Bone]

The right hon. Gentleman is making a thoughtful speech and I understand entirely his position, but will he consider voting for amendment (b)? It does not specify a particular Bill; it just regrets that there is no EU referendum Bill in the Queen’s Speech.

[Mr Howarth]

No, and the reason why I am not prepared to do that is because the hon. Gentleman and the amendment anticipate a different kind of renegotiation from one that I would support. I have given serious thought to supporting the amendment, but it is possible on occasion to agree with the words of an amendment while not necessarily agreeing with the sentiment behind it. I do not want to be associated with a proposal to renegotiate Britain’s involvement in Europe that differs from how I would want it to be conducted. The difference between me and the hon. Gentleman and others who support the amendment is not necessarily over its wording, but over the intention behind it, which I do not want to be associated with.

I hope that in the coming years we will see a different arrangement between Europe and the United Kingdom. I also hope that we can improve people’s working lives and make work pay for a lot more people, particularly young people. I do not believe that that is the direction that this Government want to take, and I hope that when there is a change of Government we will be able to make the changes that I want to see.

HM Revenue and Customs

George Howarth Excerpts

Tuesday 5th February 2013 Westminster Hall

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Mr George Howarth (in the Chair)]

Order. I intend to call the Front-Bench speakers at 10.40. In order to allow as many people to speak as possible, I will impose a five-minute limit on speeches. If hon. Members stick to that, it is possible that all the people who have indicated that they want to speak will be able to.

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Howarth. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) on securing this important debate.

In these difficult times, we are all more aware than ever of the need to pay our taxes, to pay our way, and to be able to collect taxes efficiently. The Government and the country rely heavily on HMRC to collect the taxes that the Government claim are necessary to reduce Britain’s deficit yet, at the same time, the Government are making cuts to HMRC and hitting hard its ability to do its job. They simply cannot run down the machine that they require to deliver for them in these difficult times.

Last year, HMRC estimated the total UK tax gap through aggressive avoidance and evasion by UK residents and businesses at about £32 billion, which is almost a quarter of the deficit. The staffing cuts at HMRC are particularly shocking, as is its shortage of resources. By 2015, its staffing numbers will have fallen by 44% from 2005 levels, which represents a huge reduction in staff over 10 years. Staffing levels in the tax collection department are set to reach an all-time low of just over 56,000 by 2015, which is down from 97,000 in 2005.

Job cuts among Revenue officials have meant that £1.1 billion less unpaid tax has been recouped than could have been. The influential Public Accounts Committee has praised an HMRC crackdown that brought in an extra £4.32 billion in five years, which was 11 times what it cost. However, the PAC said that the decision to axe 3,300 posts at the same time appeared to have undermined effectiveness and it urged caution over further reductions. The Committee said:

“We are not convinced that the decision to reduce staff numbers working in this area in the past represented value for money for the taxpayer.”

The general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union said recently:

“the effort to ensure people pay the taxes they owe will continue to be seriously undermined by job cuts.”

The case for investment in our public services could not be starker or more obvious than it is in the case of HMRC, yet the Government are planning to cut 10,000 more jobs from it in the coming years. Staff morale is at an all-time low, but if we look at the job losses and cuts, is that any wonder? The Government have also proposed a review of the terms and conditions of staff, leaving them suffering disproportionately from the Government’s austerity programme, and that comes on top of changes to pensions and part-time work issues.

Let us look at the staffing in HMRC. In benefits and credits, the staffing level was more than 7,000 in 2009, but only a little more than 5,000 in 2012. In business tax, the number was more than 4,000 in 2009, but only a little more than 3,000 in 2012. In enforcement and compliance, the figure was 34,700 in 2009, but 28,700 in 2012. In personal tax, the staffing level was again some 34,700 in 2009, but it was 29,000 in 2012, and in corporate services, the figure was more than 7,000 in 2009, but only a little more than 5,000 in 2012. Those are not my figures but the Government’s own. How can HMRC perform with the capacity that we would wish following such job cuts? How can it possibly act against the tax avoidance that we have seen when such numbers have been reduced from its staff?

At a time of a severe economic recession, tax avoidance is something that HMRC should be pursuing wholeheartedly, but its resources and capacity to do so are being cut. I can only wonder at the Government’s mismanagement—

[Mr George Howarth (in the Chair)]

Order.

VAT on Air Ambulance Fuel Payments

George Howarth Excerpts

Wednesday 11th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Guy Opperman]

I endorse everything that my hon. Friend has said; she is a great supporter of that organisation.

[Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on being fortunate enough to raise this debate. As he pointed out, urban areas are often as dependent on air ambulance services. The North West Ambulance Service, based in my constituency, is highly regarded right across the region.

[Guy Opperman]

The right hon. Gentleman mentions an exceptional air ambulance charity, which is supported not just by him but by all MPs concerned with the north-west.

Put simply, in my part of the world—and all others, for that matter—health care would be jeopardised without the charitable air ambulance service. I am not denigrating the providers of other emergency services, but we could not operate without the Air Ambulances. For example, the Great North air ambulance covers an area of 8,000 square miles, from the Scottish borders to North Yorkshire and from the east to the west coasts. The helicopters can be anywhere in the region within 15 minutes and on board are specialist trauma doctors and paramedics, who bring expert accident and emergency qualities to the scene. However, each mission costs £2,500, regardless of whether the patient is airlifted. That takes into account the cost of the aircraft, storage, paying the pilots and paramedics, and medicine and other equipment. There are hundreds of call-outs per month, and the same applies all across the country. Given that this involves paying in excess of £100,000 a year on fuel, of which VAT represents 20%, there will be a significant saving not only to the Great North air ambulance service but to several others, and that would equate to life-saving missions.